THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SATANIC CULT INVOLVEMENT: AN ...

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particularly apparent in Klein's (1946) concept of projective identification as the
prototype ofan aggressive object relation, in which the infant has the anal-sadistic fantasy
ofevacuating excrements and parts of itself into the mother:
Together with these harmful excrements, expelled in hatred, split-off parts of
the ego are also projected ... into the mother. These excrements and bad parts
ofthe self are meant not only to injure but also to control and take possession
of the object. In so far as the mother comes to contain the bad parts of the
self, she is not felt to be a separate individual but is felt to be the bad self
(Klein, 1946, p. 8).
In this way, the differentiation between the ego and its objects becomes blurred as the
objects are unconsciously identified with parts of the self. More specifically, although
not in every instance, the fantasy of projective identification involves bad (destructive,
envious, greedy, etc.) parts of the self. This rids the ego of an internal danger at the
expense of generating persecutory anxiety in relation to the external object, now
perceived as containing the bad self aspects. Klein (1952) later considered projective
identification to be the foundation of all object relations, involving projection of both
good and bad parts ofthe selfinto the object.
Not just projective, but also introjective fantasies give rise to identification between the
ego and its objects. Fantasies of incorporating or introjecting an object may result in an
alteration of the ego so that the ego takes on or assimilates the qualities of the object
(Hinshelwood, 1991). Projective identification, therefore, refers to fantasies in which
aspects of the self are attributed to the object, whereas introjective identification occurs
when aspects of the internal object are attributed to the self. A number of important
points need to be noted regarding these identification processes. Firstly, introjective and
projective identification are not mutually exclusive, but occur together in the construction
and development of the internal world. Secondly, these identification processes may
involve both good and bad objects/part-objects, and good/bad self aspects. Thirdly, the
identity of the subject is not static, but rather fluid, and may alter dramatically according
to shifting patterns of introjective and projective identification. Fourthly, the degree to